2013 Sidecarcross World Championship

rdf:langString 2013 Sidecarcross World Championship

rdf:langString not held

rdf:langString Ben Adriaenssen - Ben van den Bogaart

rdf:langString The 2013 FIM Sidecarcross World Championship, the 34th edition of the competition, started on 1 April and finished after fourteen race weekends on 22 September 2013. The defending champions were Daniël Willemsen from the Netherlands and his passenger Kenny van Gaalen. However, Willemsen competed with two different passengers in 2013, Robbie Bax and Belgian Dagwin Sabbe, but missed most of the season through injuries. The 2013 World Championship was won by Belgian driver Ben Adriaenssen and his Dutch passenger Ben van den Bogaart. It was the first title for both of them. All up, 56 teams were qualified overall, from the World Champions in first spot with 610 points to the 56th placed Lithuanian team of Vytautas and Andžejus Racka on one point. The Dutch-Latvian combination of Etienne Bax and Kaspars Stupelis finished runners-up in the overall standings for the second year in a row while defending champion Daniël Willemsen finished only 21st. Ben Adriaenssen and Ben van den Bogaart won eleven races and seven Grand Prix in the 2013 season, followed by Etienne Bax and Kaspars Stupelis with fourteen race wins and six Grand Prix. Of the other teams, only Jan Hendrickx with Elvijs Mucenieks won a Grand Prix. Hendrickx/Mucenieks also won one race during the season, while the French team of Valentin Giraud and Nicolas Musset won the remaining two. The Sidecarcross World Championship, first held in 1980 and organised by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, is an annual competition. All races, manufacturers and the vast majority of riders in the competition being in and from Europe. Sidecarcross is similar to motocross except that the teams consist of two riders, a driver and a passenger. Races are held on the same tracks as solo motocross but the handling of the machines differs as sidecars don't lean. The majority of physical work in the sport is carried out by the passenger, who speeds up the sidecarcross in corners by leaning out. The coordination between the driver and the passenger are therefore of highest importance.